Blood of Merlin
by Mourneloupe
Summary: Dumbledore is dead, but his blood is not...Without guidance now, Harry must set out on a journey with his friends and a new ally to stop the scheming of Voldemort and his growing entourage of shadows.


There was something odd about the girl. Harry couldn't put his finger on it, the numbing feeling he got whenever he looked over at the white table where Dumbledore now lay. Harry could feel the fake Horcrux burning in his hand everytime he looked at the girl, but at the same time a sweeping feeling of peace seemed to crash down upon his head. The girl wasn't even that extraordinary. Though, she was younger looking than even Ginny and she had snow white hair, cropped short right below her ears, which were strange in themselves, as they had pointed ends. Harry continued to watch her rather than have to stare at the now engulfing white tomb before the crowd. The mermen had left along with the centaurs already. Harry could hear Grawp and Hagrid's crying echoing across the grounds. He was still staring at the young girl and felt a shock when Fawkes the phoenix suddenly appeared at her side and perched silently and elegantly upon her shoulder.

"Harry, who is that?"

Hermione who had seen him staring was now watching herself and had seemingly been shocked as well with Fawkes appearance.

"I'm not sure. Look, Professor McGonagal seems to know her."

He pointed for the other two to see.

Ron and Ginny both watched with Harry and Hermione as a silently crying Professor McGonagal wrapped the slight small girl in a fierce hug. The girl seemed to take this in patiently and hugged the older woman back in a familiar way. The group all sidled towards the pair seeming to be heading towards Hagrid and his brother. They slowed just as Porfessor McGonagal and the strange girl began to speak together.

"Do not worry Minerva, I am perfectly capable.-"

"But you must know, we had no idea. Your- Albus always trusted him completely, the student I told you was with him at the time heard him call out to Severus. He said he trusted him and Draco Malfoy to the end."

The girl's face seemed to harden and the four unconsciously stepped back for her face was a frightening thing. She seemed to have grown fangs all of a sudden and her eyes flashed dangerously close to ruby in color.

"That is neither here nor there-" she said quietly. Fawkes let out a low mournful tone beside her head and the girl reached up and stroked the soft down between the bird's eyes. Fawkes crooned to her and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Fawkes agrees with me. They will die and I shall deliver the justice that the wizarding community always fails to deliver. You wizards and witches thinking you are the superior in everything. It's ridiculous. Grandfather always said they were to be accepted that they would accept me. I am the longest living of my brothers and sisters."

"Ophelia, you must understand Albus Dumbledore loved you."

"I know that, auntie."

"Auntie?" Hermione's eyes widened.

"Professor is an aunt to that girl? I doubt she's even human." Hermione's brow scrunched unsurely and Harry simply shook his head and kept listening.

Professor McGonagall had gone slightly white at the term and she rubbed her eyes in a tired way.

"Ophelia, you must stop this. Albus loved you, trusted you above all else, you cannot go off and kill anyone you want just because you think the Ministry will fail."

"They will fail in this task. I will find Severus Snape and I will bring his head to place upon the stone table. Blood shall be repaid, it is the pagan way. It was Father and Mother's way. It is my nature and you cannot dissuade me."

"No, I cannot, a simple witch against the daughter of Merlin." McGonagall whispered to the soft breeze now rustling through the trees of the Forbidden Forest.

The four hurried away not wanting to listen anymore to the strange little girl talking of murdering their ex DADA professor and the murderer of Dumbledore.

"That was the strangest conversation I think we've ever eavesdropped upon." Hermione said slightly out of breath as they reached the great hall doors.

Harry nodded, but still couldn't forget the little white haired girl, so pale and slight and fragile looking, talking of murdering the man he himself wanted to see dead.

"She couldn't have been older than 12. She was so little, yet her eyes and her voice were so strangely mature. So strange…" Hermione murmured to herself as the four walked slowly back into the school.

The plan for Hermione and Ron and Harry was thus as follows. The transportation for Hogwarts students was Auror escorts on the Floo Networks, but now with the suspicions, the Order of the Phoenix was to oversee the transportation, in secret of course. Harry's Aunt and Uncle's house had been connected to the fireplace networks so he could make one last stop there and activate the magical protections that Dumbledore had put in place so long ago. The feeling that Dumbledore might soon send him a message for their next lessons with the pensieve and it was harder to imagine non of his team mates bringing him a new scroll or anything like that was almost too much to bear so Harry tried not to think about it. Dumbledore's death became that dull ache in his chest in a reserved spot right besides the aches for his parents and Sirius.

Harry clenched his eyes shut as the Floo ride made him sick to his stomach. The Dursleys had agreed one last time to let him into their home. He was slightly happy that was the new way of things. He felt unsure though. He'd have to let them know he may be dead soon enough. Their living room tumbled into sight and he sprawled across the floor and was welcomed by a shriek of fear.

"Hello Aunt Petunia." He grumbled as he picked himself up off the floor.

Said Aunt Petunia scrambled out the door as fast as she could and returned a moment later with a broom and cleaning supplies. She screamed again and swatted him out of the room with the broom.

Harry shrugged and picked his way up the familiar steps of his Aunt and Uncle's house. It was early morning so he knew Uncle Vernon was not at home and Dudley seeing as how Harry had come from school early was still in classes. A silence overtook the house and Harry suddenly felt a flare in his chest. It was strange a moment and he closed his eyes. A picture of Ginny met his closed lids and she smiled to him. and he heard Dumbledore's voice in his head.

_"this spell is Love, Harry. You are who Voldemort made you. You have the ability to love and that above all is the strongest power against Voldemort. You have the ability. You must use it to its fullest strength."_

Harry felt sick. He had told Ginny it was useless to stay together, that she would be better off without him. An empty place in his chest where Ginny had filled seemed to grow with the realization that he had done exactly what Dumbledore had advised against all along.

"Damn it. I'll set things right when I get to the burrow."

He told himself as he gathered his trunk that had arrived as he had. Taking his wand out, Harry waved it once and sent his trunk to the Burrow on ahead of him. Even though he wasn't of age, his apparition skills were in top form and he had been doing it numerous times during the schools preparations for the students to leave. He was now as good as Hermione was at it and he found out through Mr. Weasley when he had a gone back up to the hospital wing to see Bill before he was moved to St Mungos that the Ministry was no longer concentrating on such things as apparition by a 16 year old wizard student and so on and so forth so Harry wasted no time in becoming flawless at the traveling trick. Hermione at first had disapproved of it all but Harry had given her one look while packing his books away and she had fallen silent and not said anything on the matter until they were shipping off through the fireplace of McGonagall.


End file.
